Whitbread has announced the closure of 18 restaurants across Scotland next month as part of a major restructuring plan. The affected venues include Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Bar + Block, Cookhouse+, and Table Table restaurants.
Closures part of £250m savings plan
The company aims to save £250 million over five years by converting some restaurant sites into Premier Inn rooms and selling off around £1.5 billion worth of freehold properties. The plan, announced in April, is expected to cut around 3,800 jobs across the UK and Ireland.
Whitbread chief executive Dominic Paul said: "We always challenge ourselves to improve and, in light of significant cost increases in the form of business rates and national insurance, as well as the implied market discount to our inherent value, we’ve looked hard at the options open to us to maximise value creation over the medium and long-term. This plan will transform Whitbread into a higher-margin, higher-returning pure-play hotel business."
Scottish closures by date
On September 3, Bar + Block, Cookhouse+, and Table Table restaurants will close, including six venues in Scotland. These are:
- Table Table: Mill of Mundurno (Aberdeenshire), The Lee Burn (Lanarkshire)
- Cookhouse+: Cotton Mill (Kilmarnock)
- Bar + Block: Edinburgh and Glasgow
On September 7, eight Brewers Fayre pubs in Scotland will shut as part of 89 closures across the UK. The Scottish venues are:
- Bankhead Gate (Fife)
- Craig House (Edinburgh)
- Inshes Gate (Highland)
- Kincardine Way (Falkirk)
- Mains of Balquharn (Aberdeenshire)
- Newhaven Quay (Edinburgh)
- Pirnhall Inn (Stirlingshire)
- Queens Crossing (Edinburgh)
Finally, on September 10, five Beefeater restaurants in Scotland will close: Centre (Dundee), Deer Park (West Lothian), Gourdie Croft (Dundee), Hamilton (Glasgow), and Lady Nairne (Edinburgh).
Job impact and support
Whitbread hopes to redeploy many affected employees within the wider business. The company said: "We recognise the impact of this proposal on colleagues who work at the affected sites. As a business which recruits around 15,000 people every year, we expect to be able to retain a significant proportion of those affected and will be looking to redeploy as many of our impacted colleagues as possible. However, we do anticipate that the proposed changes, which are subject to consultation, would result in a reduction of around 3,800 roles of a total UK and Ireland workforce of around 30,000. We will do all we can to support those colleagues affected."
